“It’s awesome to be so far from home and see so many of you give a fuck!” a humbled Carson Pace declares halfway through The Callous Daoboys’ Radar Festival set. The US six-piece’s half-hour slot is only the third gig on their debut UK tour, not to mention their first-ever overseas festival appearance. However – and despite an early 4pm stagetime – the frontman is gazing out at a crammed auditorium, where moshpits restlessly swirl to his band’s batshit mathcore.
The Daoboys’ reputation as sonic wackadoodles precedes them. Their second album, Celebrity Therapist, was a cult hit last year, winning over lovers of all things erratic and experimental by leaping between math-metal and baroque pop. With the songs also having legitimate depth (the lyrics are about cult thinking, from Scientology to the alt-right), it became an album-of-the-year list regular and amassed international intrigue.
